Shards of Amber Glass
by Nanase Haruka
Summary: (collab fic)Life has gone from bad to worse for Hikari Netto recently. From his parents breaking up to his father becoming abusive, Netto is finding it harder to find the energy to keep going. But can one old friend and rival change Netto for the better?
1. Default Chapter

**Shards of Amber Glass**

**Black RoseL Me & The Phoenix's Demon**  
  
Netto stared at the ceiling in shock. Blood stained the normally well- cleaned carpet. Shards of amber glass lay next to Netto. The kitchen and living room were totally messed up. Glasses were broken on the floor as well as plates. Furniture was overturned and lamps were completely destroyed. Though nothing was as destroyed as Netto's trust.  
  
'How could it have come to this? What had really happened?' Netto kept asking himself this.  
  
Yes, he remembered what had happened a few weeks ago. Papa had found out that Mama had cheated on him. She had been going out with another guy! When she was already married! Not to mention that she already had a son. Didn't she know what type of effect this would have on Netto? Netto had been shaken up. But not nearly as bad off as Papa had been. Papa had stormed off to Sci-Lab that night and had issued a divorce. Mama had been so angry that she went off to live with the man that she was dating. After that, Papa had started drinking. Sometimes, Papa would come home all drunk, but nothing really bad had ever happened. At least... not until today anyways. Netto shuddered slightly, remembering that.  
  
((Flashback))  
  
Netto was upstairs talking quietly to his Navi, Rockman.EXE, while waiting for Papa and Mama to come home. They had gone to some fancy restaurant downtown, for dinner.  
  
He heard the door slam open, even maybe a few crashing noises, and lots of cursing from a male voice. Netto recognized it as Papa's.  
  
"I wonder what's going on, Rock..." Netto pondered on the situation happening downstairs.  
  
Rockman looked worried. "I dunno, Netto-kun. Something doesn't seem right."  
  
After a few more crashes, curiosity got the best of Netto and he went downstairs to see what has happening. Who was causing the crashes, surprised Netto. It was his own father!  
  
"Papa? What's going on? What are you doing? Why are you doing this??" Netto asked.  
  
It was then that Netto noticed the stench in the room. It smelled like beer. Then it occurred to Netto. His father had been drinking and he was drunk.  
  
"You little bastard! YOU'RE the reason she left me!!" Netto's father exclaimed in a rough voice and lunged at Netto. Netto gasped and tried to move away, but Papa was too fast for him. His father pinned him down, and sat on his stomach. Netto was surprised at the new weight added on top of him. Papa made eye contact with him, and their eyes connected. Netto looked away from those unfocused eyes of his dad. He couldn't understand why his once sweet, caring Papa would do this to him.  
  
While Papa was lecturing him, Netto was lost in the darkness of his mind. A sudden slap caused Netto to snap out of his train of thoughts.  
  
"Are you listening, you son of a bitch?" The head scientist shouted. Netto nodded, trying not to shake in fear. "Good. You'd better be."  
  
Netto's father suddenly remembered he had a beer bottle in his hand. He smirked, darkly. Netto shivered. He didn't like that smirk. Not at all. In two nano seconds, Papa had brought down the bottle.  
  
A scream echoed throughout the small family room that was never going to be shared with his Mama or Papa again. The glass from the beer bottle was shattered. There were several cuts on Netto's shoulder, as a few glass pieces were sticking out from the flesh. Blood dripped down his arm, now exposed. Netto felt the weight come off of his stomach, and he slowly tried to get up. But not before Papa had kicked him in the gut.  
  
"Let that be a lesson to you." Papa whispered, ever so closely into his ear. Then he walked out of the Hikari household, leaving Netto to take care of his wounds.  
  
((End of Flashback))  
  
Netto finally tried to pick himself off the ground. He gasped as even more pain flew through his body.  
  
He stumbled to the bathroom, where he tried to clean himself up. Then he finally managed to get himself to his own room.  
  
When Rockman, who had been growing frantic for the past ten minutes saw him, and he gasped. "Oh my gosh! Netto-kun! What happened??"  
  
Netto managed to choke out, "Pa...pa..." before collapsing half on the bed, half off.  
  
--TBC--  
  
The Phoenix's Demon: O.O oh my gosh, I can't believe we did that to poor Netto...   
Black Rose: X.x -speechless-   
The Phoenix's Demon: Can't you say anything more to our readers???  
Black Rose: -shakes head-   
The Phoenix's Demon: (sighs) Please read and review.


	2. Chapter 2

**Shards of Amber Glass  
By: Black RoseL Me and Hikari no Namida**

Rockman's mind was in turmoil. 'What happened to Netto-kun to get him in such a state? And how was Papa related to it? Papa wouldn't...no, Papa would never harm Netto-kun.' Rockman sighed and turned back to his brother. He had to get help and now! But who to contact...? Meiru was going shopping today, Dekao was visiting his little brother and Yaito was on a trip around the world.

Rockman stopped as a name came into his mind. Rockman quickly accessed the Internet and headed to Enzan's homepage. 'Netto-kun...please hang in there...' Rockman thought to himself as he traveled.

Rockman sighed as he finally arrived at Enzan's homepage, and was greeted by Blues.

"Rockman. Why are you here?" Blues inquired in a monotone voice, nothing shocking to Rockman.

"Netto-kun, he… he collapsed!" The blue bomber exclaimed, frantically. He grabbed his head.

"Calm down before you hyperventilate." The red armored Navi stated. Seeing that this didn't work, he quickly smacked the side of Rockman's head. Shaking his head from the dizzy spell, he smiled,

"Thanks, I needed that." Blues nodded, but grew serious.

"Now, please explain what happened?" Blues asked.

"N-Netto-kun...I...he...we heard some strange noises downstairs and...h-he went downstairs to check and... And... I-I heard him scream and someone yelling...then...it was quiet for a-about five minutes a-and when he came up, and was all torn up...all I managed to get from him before he collapsed was something about...Papa..." Rockman barely managed to choke out.

"Out of all the places that you could've gone, why here?" The curious query came from somewhere to the right. It was Enzan. He must've heard their conversation. "Why not go to Hikari's other friends?"

"Well, Meiru is out shopping somewhere, Dekao is visiting his little brother in Netopia, and Yaito is somewhere else on the Earth." Rockman clarified. He saw Enzan's mouth about to open, and continued, "Trust me, you don't want to disrupt Meiru's shopping time."

Rockman shuddered, remembering the last time he and Netto had interrupted. Enzan gave a smug smirk. Then, Enzan grew serious.

"Well then, if that's the case, we'd better hurry. Blues, Rockman. Head over to Netto. I'll be there momentarily." Enzan instructed. Blues nodded. Even though Rockman wasn't used to following instructions from Enzan, he also nodded. The two navis quickly logged onto the internet. Enzan then put his now empty PET in its holster and quickly ran to Netto's house, forgetting all about the fact that he had a limo he could have used.

Enzan cursed as he remembered if he wanted to enter the house, he needed the key, but to his surprise the door flung right open when he tried. Either it was Rockman or Blues who opened the door for him, or it was already unlocked. Strange indeed.

When he came into the family room, Enzan grimaced. Everything was a complete mess. The lamp had been broken in half, and the sofa flipped over. Scattered among the carpeted floor was many bits of glass, presumably from the lamp. Then, Enzan saw an amber colored beer bottle lying on the ground. It was empty. With what he saw, Enzan could easily piece together what had happened.

"Shit..." Enzan swore and quickly ran up the stairs to where he knew Netto's room was. Even though Rockman had warned him about Netto's condition, Enzan hadn't been expecting this. Netto was barely on his bed, but the bedcover was stained with blood. Netto himself was covered in it. Most of it appeared to be flowing from his side and his head. Yet again, Enzan cursed and quickly walked over to the brunette and gently tried to shake him.

"Netto...Netto, wake up..." Enzan soon realized his mistake, and covered his mouth, but it was already too late. Blearily blinking his eyes, Netto grinned, slightly.

"H-hey, y-you actually used m-my first name..." Enzan's face flushed a bit. Trying as hard as he could, he ignored that annoying conscience voice.

"Are you alright?"

"I t-think so..."

"Get up, will you?" Netto stared at him as if he had grown another head.

"Um, Enzan? I'm kinda..." The brown haired male trailed off, indicating to himself. Enzan sweatdropped.

"Oh, right, sorry." Enzan bent down and put one of Netto's arms behind his neck, and gently helped him limp his way to the bathroom.

Not really caring, he kicked the door open, which caused it to retaliate, and closed again. Both boys sweatdropped heavily.

"Well, that didn't work... Why don't you just open the goddamned door like a normal person?" Netto gave the dual-haired teen the 'cut eye'.

"You sure are feeling better."

"H-Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Netto quickly broke away from Enzan's grasp, and 'gracefully' landed on his backside

Enzan raised an eyebrow. "Smooth, Hikari." He stated. Netto glared at the other teen.

"I don't see you trying to help." Netto accused. Enzan rolled his eyes, opened the bathroom door and picked Netto up again.

"I've been trying to, if you would actually just let me." Enzan countered. Netto, for once, didn't have a comeback to that one. So instead, he did the one thing he could: he pouted. Enzan simply rolled his eyes and brought the other boy into the bathroom.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up." Enzan said.

After a few minutes of slipping, falling, and well, attempted cleaning, the blood was finally off. Enzan and Netto both sat down on the bed.

"How did you get injured in the first place?"

"Um… Well, I…" Netto stuttered. What could he say? He couldn't lie, because Enzan would see right through it. "I…"

"…" Enzan was patient with waiting for the brown haired boy's answer. Enzan was pretty sure of what had happened, but he wanted to hear it from Netto, himself.

"Papa, he…" A slight pause. "Papa, he… he got drunk and… hit me. I-I'm not sure why exactly though."

Netto was going to break soon, Enzan could tell. His eyes were all watery and filled with dread.

"Do you know why your father would go an get himself drunk?" Enzan asked. It didn't seem to fit the image of the great Hikari-hakase to get himself drunk. There had to be some incident behind it. Netto bit his lip, without even thinking about it.

"Don't do that." Enzan chided the younger boy. Netto stopped biting his lip and stared at Enzan with his teary eyes.

"Don't do what?" Netto inquired.

"Don't bite your lip. You'll hurt yourself more, and that's saying something." Enzan explained. Netto looked surprised for a moment, then tried to answer Enzan's question.

"Mama…she…she cheated…on Papa…s-so t-they divorced…and Papa's been…really upset…"

Enzan didn't have a reply for this.

"Oh." Such an intelligent response from the famous Net Savior. Netto shook his head, and laughed, bitterly.

"Looks like that's left the great Enzan speechless." Netto snorted. "How ironic."

Netto turned his head, as he felt more tears surfacing. To his shock, Enzan quickly twisted his body back around and all of a sudden he could hear the steady, calm heartbeat of his rival.

"Enzan…" Netto gripped onto his comforter. Closing his eyes, he buried his head in Enzan's chest, and started sobbing. Enzan rubbed Netto's back soothingly.

"It's alright…just let it out…" Enzan whispered. Honestly, Enzan had no idea why he was doing this. He knew though, that if Netto let out his emotions he would probably heal faster emotionally…if he ever did…Enzan sighed. He understood how Netto felt. After all, Enzan had been raised by his father to be the perfect business manager and president. And his own father would do whatever it took to make Enzan get the message. Enzan shuddered slightly at that thought. Enzan looked down at the brunette in his arms.

"I won't let the same thing happen to you…" Enzan whispered softly.

"What?" Netto's head snapped up in an instant. His face was streaked with streams of tears, still falling down his face. Enzan's normally cold blue eyes softened.

"Nothing." Enzan in turn buried his head into Netto's shoulder. His shirt was beginning to become wet. There weren't any sounds nor any words spoken, but Netto knew that Enzan was crying as well. And they both sat there in silence


	3. IMPORTANT NOTICE

**IMPORTANT NOTICE  
**

To all my lovely readers,

First of all, I'm truly sorry that I haven't gotten around to updating any of my multi-chapters stories. University has sapped my creative juices and my free time as well. Chances are that won't change this year either, since I'm entering my fourth year and things are going to be hectic.

This notice is also an announcement. I'm leaving . I'm not sure how many of you are aware of the group "Critics United," but they've been harassing and bullying authors around the site through reviews. They've left plenty of hurtful comments and I would hate to be on the receiving end of any of them, even though I've been spared so far. I've been a part of this community for 10 years and nothing like this has ever happened during my time here. For more information about this issue, check out wtffanfiction . tumblr post/24378135516/important-mass-deletion-of-stories-on-fanfiction-net (just take out the spaces).

Despite all this chaos, if you would still like to follow me, I have recently become a member of Tumblr (kuropuu . tumblr . com) and I will be posting my fanfics there from now on. You can also find me at LiveJournal (hatsuhikari . livejournal . com), and hopefully sooner or later, Archive Of Our Own.

Goodbye and thank you so much for your support over the years.

~ -puu26


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